The history of freemasonry in the Czech lands recalls the flow of the underground Punkva Stream in the Moravian Kras, which disappears under the ground for a long while, away from human eyes, and then re-emerges once more. The beginnings of masonry in our country go back to the year 1741, peak under the rule of Emperors Josef II and Leopold II, however, leading in 1794 to the unavoidable closing of lodge activities as a result of fears of an Austrian reaction to the influences of the French Revolution. Attempts at reviving masonry were made unsuccessfully firstly in 1811 and then in the revolutionary year of 1848. Some significant personalities of cultural and scientific life, for example, the world-famous physicist Jan Evangelista Purkyně, became members of lodges in neighbouring Prussia.

However, on return home, they were forced to renounce their Masonic past. In the more liberal atmosphere at the end of the 19th century associations of masons appeared in Bohemia, whose members were active in lodges outside the borders, particularly in Saxony and in Hungary, where the activities of freemasons were permitted. From these roots freemasonry appeared in Czechoslovakia after 1918, characterised by the activities of two grand lodges: German and Czechoslovak. Their activities ended with the period of Nazi occupation, when freemasons became one of the most pursued groups of the population. In their fight against Nazism many gave their lives for freedom and their homes.

After the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 came a short period in which masons renewed their activities, but after the coming to power of the communists in 1948 activities slowed down and at the beginning of the 1950s all activities were terminated until the year 1990, when the freemasons became once again part of the life of the society of the free Czech Republic.

Even though the freemasons of the 18th century were not numerous -there were at most several hundreds of brethren -but at their height they influenced many spheres of life.

Masonic philanthropy played a significant role in the life of enlightened society. During the catastrophic flooding in the year 1784 freemasons gained the sympathy of the public through courageous and personal achievement in the relief work and by organising fund raising to help victims of the flood. The pride of Masonic philanthropy was the St. John the Baptist Orphanage, as well as the fifth oldest institution for deaf-mutes in the world, established and maintained by the lodges of Prague.

The freemasons were significantly active in the cultural life of their period. The Prague printer, publisher and mason Schönfeld collected a range of valuable objects for his private museum during the auction, ordered by emperor Joseph II, of the Rudolfin Royal Collection. Exemplary enlightenment libraries were assembled at the chateaus of aristocrats-masons. Also active in the lodges were famous actors of the "National Theatre" built by Count Nostiz. The triumphal success of Mozart's operas in this theatre has its own background, as well as in the reception of this ingenious composer in Prague by his Prague brethren.

The public spends its Sunday moments in town parks, originally built by private means of the aristocracy -members of the Prague lodges.

The greatest contribution to the society by the freemasons in the 18th century is the development of science and the laying of the foundations of the Czech scientific community. The founders of the main scientific institutions, whose successors are today the Czech Academy of Science, National Museum in Prague and Moravian Museum in Brno, were mostly freemasons. We find freemasons at the founding of the National Library in Prague. Among members of Prague lodges we find major publishers, who, through their print, spread education and enlightenment.

In the period of the so-called First Republic (1918-1938) the freemasons were the supporters of democratic and republican thinking. Moreover, they contributed to the understanding between the different ethnic groups which formed the Czechoslovak Republic. An important document of this nationality and religious tolerance, a tolerance that is basic to the Masonic moral codex, is the co-operation between German and Czech speaking lodges within Czechoslovakia. It is therefore important to focus attention on the activities of the grand lodge "Lessing zu den den drei Ringen" which united the German speaking lodges in the CSR. The legacy of Masonic Czech German tolerance and co-operation has certainly not lost its relevance even today.